Monday, March 30, 2015

Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"A dozen Jewish House Democrats laid it out for deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes during a meeting in the Longworth House Office Building last week: Enough. They’re just as upset about what Benjamin Netanyahu said ruling out a two-state solution, but President Barack Obama didn’t need to keep reminding them and everyone else. Obama and his aides, they said, had to stop acting as if the Israeli prime minister’s comments are the only thing holding up a peace process that’s been abandoned for a year while not expressing a word of disappointment about Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — and openly toying with allowing the Palestinians their provocative recognition bid at the United Nations. The swipes at Netanyahu felt vindictive, and gratuitous. The White House has worked to cool down the rhetoric and public tension. But it’s not letting go. When Netanyahu insisted during the congratulatory phone call Obama waited to make that he was already backtracking and they’d get past this, an unimpressed Obama responded by saying, sure, but you said what you said. He and his aides believe it’s now up to Netanyahu to repair a rift that they stress is only about the peace process, not the larger commitment to Israel. 'We’ve made our point. The message has clearly been received,' a White House official said. 'The next move is theirs, presumably after the new government has been formed.'" (Politico)

"Why is no one in the D.C. political class and media bubble talking about the Jeffrey Epstein affair? Well, it’s not true that they’re not talking about it at all; they’re just not (for the most part) talking about it honestly or asking the right questions. And the right questions are: Why is no one in the D.C. political class and media bubble talking about the Jeffrey Epstein affair? Well, it’s not true that they’re not talking about it at all; they’re just not (for the most part) talking about it honestly or asking the right questions. And the right questions are: Exactly how tight is the friendship between former President and potential future first gentleman Bill Clinton and Mr. Epstein, who owns a private island in Florida and is now accused of having sex with girls as young as 12 and procuring young girls for sex with other friends of his? What was Bill Clinton doing on the island with Mr. Epstein on multiple occasions and why did he fly overseas on Mr. Epstein’s plane at least 10 times?
What hardball PR and legal tactics will Hillary Clinton’s campaign use to try to make this potential problem—which could potentially derail her planned presidential bid—disappear? Will those tactics work, or is Ms. Clinton’s campaign already dead, even if the exact time of the funeral is not yet known? the Left-Wing Media Machine pretending that anyone who asks questions about the Epstein-Clinton connection is a paid stooge of the Right-Wing Media Machine? And why is the Right-Wing Media Machine, which would normally be gleefully talking about this or any sordid affair involving the Clintons, being unusually reserved in hyping the case? (Hint: Because some notable conservatives and prominent supporters of Israel — a constituency that used to reside solidly in the Democratic camp but which the GOP in recent years has been wooing, with some notable success— have been implicated in the Epstein scandal too). How did our political and media elites ever become so hopelessly corrupt?" (Observer)

Guests in the West Gallery.

"On Friday night I went with a friend to dinner at Sette Mezzo. As I was leaving, I happened to notice our current US Ambassador to Japan, The Honorable Caroline Kennedy, was immersed in animated conversation having dinner with a friend (or what looked like ...) a very pretty young woman, who I later learned was the ambassador’s daughter. The Ambassador happened to be doing the talking in that millisecond when I passed their table on my way out.The expression on her face as she spoke to this “friend” had a very personal kindness to it. I wasn’t certain if it were she – Mrs. Kennedy – at first. I don’t know her and have only seen her in public where she always seems poised and very serious. On this night it was quite different. Her conversation was gently animated as if she were speaking to a friend. I was seeing the mother. It was just a moment, one of those moments in the city where the humanity comes out and touches you; a reward. Another moment, quite different, but one which also leaves a pleasant afterthought: Last Thursday night at the Frick Collection, they were hosting their annual Young Fellows Ball, number sixteen. The theme of the evening was “A Dance at the Spanish Court,” and it was sponsored by Lanvin. The inspiration was the Frick’s special exhibition Coypel’s Don Quixote Tapestries: Illustrating a Spanish Novel in Eighteenth-Century France, which is now on view. This is one of the very few formal evenings in New York which draws a high percentage of younger New Yorkers (20-, 30-somethings) who come out for such an occasion. The Frick’s administration has made this party what it is. They are successfully accomplishing two important matters to the museum. They are raising funds that provide an essential support for the Frick’s education program which serves New York City public schools in all five boroughs; and they are building a strong relationship with the younger set coming up in the city." (NYSD)